One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant doronicum in Santa Maria can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Doronicum

Frost tolerance for doronicum:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Doronicum are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant doronicum in Santa Maria is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant doronicum and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your doronicum may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your doronicum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Santa Maria. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Maria is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Santa Maria you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your doronicum if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Maria

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Maria

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Maria.